


Memetics

by aphelant



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Community: cliche_bingo, Gen, Missing Scene, opposite of character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-19
Updated: 2010-05-19
Packaged: 2017-10-09 14:22:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/88405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphelant/pseuds/aphelant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Conner moves to grab him by the shoulder but Tim is faster, paranoid and scared and weak enough right now to show both, and he grabs Conner's wrist first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memetics

**Author's Note:**

> for cliche bingo: episode tag/missing scene
> 
> beta by general_jinjur
> 
> spoilers for the DCU up to Adventure Comics #3/506
> 
> When I started writing this I was new to comics fandom, and I thought that Kon had been resurrected after/around the same time as Tim had left for Europe, and that Tim would not have seen Kon until he showed up asking for help. But then I saw [this](http://pics.livejournal.com/aphelant/pic/0008w8qe/) [Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds], which makes no sense to me. None. So I've stuck to my own personal fanon, which makes this kind of AU? Alternate timeline? IDEK.

When the knock comes, Tim thinks it's Z making sure he's eaten dinner, or that Pru is bored and wants to exchange insults. Instead, he opens the door and it's --

"I've been trying to get hold of you for two days, dude. I've called _fifteen times!_ Don't you ever check your messages?"

Tim blinks a few times, and because what he's seeing can't be possible (because Conner is dead -- very, very dead -- Tim's been grieving long enough to know that for certain), he quickly develops a list of scenarios that could explain what's happening:

i) Tim is hallucinating/dreaming  
ii) this is Superboy Prime  
iii) Luthor has re-cloned Conner (for some assuredly nefarious purpose)  
iv) Tim (or Conner) is in an alternate universe  
v) Tim (or Conner) has traveled to the past (future)  
vi) something else entirely

Tim stares at Conner, assessing and cataloguing everything he sees, and Conner stares back.

"So...are you gonna say something, or what?" Conner asks. He shifts awkwardly and waves a hand in front of Tim's face. "Hellooooo? Earth to Tim!"

Conner moves to grab him by the shoulder but Tim is faster, paranoid and scared and weak enough right now to show both, and he grabs Conner's wrist first. His skin is inhumanly hot just like Tim remembers, and half of Tim's fingers touch a soft, body-warmed leather wristband.

Tim feels a pulse where his fingertips curl around and press against the flat of Conner's wrist. His own pulse echoes back like birdsong, and Tim feels alive -- feels _life_ \-- for the first time in far, far too long.

"Are you okay?" Conner asks. He's frowning, concern drawing the corners of his mouth down, and Tim would do anything to see him smile again.

"I'm...fine." Tim doesn't sound convincing even to himself, but that's not surprising considering the enormity of the lie.

"Bull," Conner says sadly, and captures him in a hug too quickly for Tim to react, to flinch or reach for a weapon.

They stand there stiffly until Tim calms down enough to breathe. Where Tim's face is pressed into Conner's shoulder he can smell hay and cows, fresh-baked cookies and laundry detergent, ozone and Cassie's perfume, and the terrifying weight of Tim's longing chokes him.

"You're -- you're real?" he asks, because it's the only thing he can think of. Right now, it's the only thing that's important.

Conner chuckles and his chin brushes Tim's hair when he nods. "Yeah, I'm real," he says, and thoughtfully adds, "Well, as real as I ever was, I guess."

"You're _real,_" Tim repeats, a reassurance to them both.

"So are you," Conner replies, amused and affectionate, and for the first time in what feels like forever, Tim thinks it might be true.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Memetics](https://archiveofourown.org/works/757780) by [sly (curiously_me)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiously_me/pseuds/sly)




End file.
